Children's website adherence to the FTC's online privacy protection rule

This study examines the extent to which online marketers comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. COPPA requires online operators to seek parental permission before collecting personal information from children and to post links to their privacy policy on their homepage and every page where personal information is collected. A majority of the 162 popular children's websites analyzed in this study collected personal information from children. Only four of those sites fully complied with major components of the law. The difficulty associated with obtaining parental permission and the recency of the law may explain the lack of compliance observed. The authors conclude that parents and schools need to educate children to protect their privacy online. In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission should continue disseminating information about the law and actively enforce it. KEY WORDS: children, COPPA, internet, online privacy